Vermicomposters Unite! Official Worm Farmers Thread

hyroot said:
I just bury coffee grounds in one spot. Coffee minerals probably depends on the beans and how they were grown. Generally they have nitrogen, phos, potassium, magnanese.

store bought castings usually have just n. Because the worms are fed the minimal amount of food. Mostly cardboard. Homemade are fed what ever you want. My homemade have every mineral so...
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I am waiting for UPS to bring my worm factory as we speak! So you are saying that good homemade castings can be an "All-in-one" fert? without having to cook!
 
MustangStudFarm said:
I am waiting for UPS to bring my worm factory as we speak! So you are saying that good homemade castings can be an "All-in-one" fert? without having to cook!
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yeah for the most part. I still topdress nutes the beginning of flower when doing rols. Mix nutes into fsoil mixes. Castings have smaller amounts of nutes. I only bury small amounts of nutes once a month. Egg shells once a month. Veggie scraps and coffe grounds every few days.
 
MustangStudFarm said:
Correct me if I'm wrong. Worm casting are high N and it contains ALL the trace elements that are added to supersoil. Right? If worm castings do not burn you plant and contain all the trace elements, why use amendments? Can a person use only casting and do well? Why amend the soil if the casting have everything?
I dont mean to keep asking lame noobie questions!
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nah, worm castings are relatively low in most NPK, you use them for the beneficial microbes.
using ONLY worm castings as the sole amendment and you'd be growing some unhappy plants.
low in everything, but VERY important to use, as it adds a LOT of life to your soil, but for amendments you'll need more
fish bone meal, manures, alfalfa meal, some like blood meal, bat guanos, seabird guano, etc.
 
I am sure its been talked about, maybe you could link me to some good posts. My worm factory got here like 30min ago and I am trying to set it up. My wife is reading the instructions while I prep. Is there anything not in the instructions that would be helpful?
So far I have wood compost that I get by the trailer load. I started putting fruit and veggies into a 5 gal w/ compost a week ago and its nice and furry. My wife ordered a mortar and pestle and ground egg shell up.
 
worm castings are to compact to use alone. The wealth of microbial life and trace elements alone is phenomenal. Work casting improve taste and color. The also help keep small deficiencies to from happening but they need to companion-ed with living am mended soil to supply a habitat for a health soil food web. You need the amendment soil for your macro-nutrients like n,p,k
doc.

MustangStudFarm said:
Correct me if I'm wrong. Worm casting are high N and it contains ALL the trace elements that are added to supersoil. Right? If worm castings do not burn you plant and contain all the trace elements, why use amendments? Can a person use only casting and do well? Why amend the soil if the casting have everything?
I dont mean to keep asking lame noobie questions!
Click to expand...
 
The abundance of coffee varieties and soil /growing conditions/Soil mineral content. Must be extensive. Before now i have given this very little thought. Thanks root.
doc
 
worm castings are to compact to use alone. The wealth of microbial life and trace elements alone is phenomenal. Work casting improve taste and color. The also help keep small deficiencies to from happening but they need to companion-ed with living am mended soil to supply a habitat for a health soil food web. You need the amendment soil for your macro-nutrients like n,p,k
doc.

MustangStudFarm said:
Correct me if I'm wrong. Worm casting are high N and it contains ALL the trace elements that are added to supersoil. Right? If worm castings do not burn you plant and contain all the trace elements, why use amendments? Can a person use only casting and do well? Why amend the soil if the casting have everything?
I dont mean to keep asking lame noobie questions!
Click to expand...
 
Yes this tread is a lot of fun for me. I have been giving the whole thing a lot of thought lately. I,m glad for all the new ideas from everyone.
 
DonPetro said:
So does anyone supplement their worm food with any organic amendments? I use a blend of alfalfa meal, kelp meal, greensand, crushed eggshell and rock phosphate. Also i add a handful of coir once every couple weeks. Worms seem to love it.
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I just wanted to bring up this question again. Also, when do you start adding the amendment? I am on day 1 lol.
 
usually anytime of amendment should be mixed into the soil unless youre top dressing. if im correct on this I could be wrong.also anyone here making their own super soil? cause I wanna know what everyones different recipies are.
 
I have added some greensand and crap shell with some azomite already.I,m 30 Days in approx.
Interesting side note when I added coco the worms migrated there in numbers to hang out.

MustangStudFarm said:
I just wanted to bring up this question again. Also, when do you start adding the amendment? I am on day 1 lol.
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and also when it comes to coffee grounds you wanna add them every so often cause It can case the bedding to become too acidic.
 
radicaldank42 said:
and also when it comes to coffee grounds you wanna add them every so often cause It can case the bedding to become too acidic.
Click to expand...

I was wondering the same myself a while back after feeding the worms coffee grounds every feeding, so I did a little research and came upon this:


"Coffee grounds are about 2%
nitrogen by volume
.
Grounds are not acidic; the acid in
coffee is water-soluble so the acid is
mostly in the coffee.
Coffee grounds are close to pH
neutral (between 6.5 - 6.8 pH).
Coffee grounds improve soil tilth or
structure."

http://extension.oregonstate.edu/lane/sites/default/files/documents/cffee07.pdf
 
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